THE DISTRIBUTION BULLETIN ISSUE #33a

CREATE A WEBSITE IN 1 HOUR FOR $9.88It is essential that your film have a website!

It is critical to maximizing revenue, audience, and impact. It can also help you find the resources to make your film in the first place.

I’m excited to publish this step-by-step guide to setting up a website in an hour for $9.88. It is written by my client Matt Myers, who is a rare combination of a talented filmmaker (TAR CREEK) and a very experienced digital marketer. Matt has been consulting with large and small internet companies since 2010, helping them with SEO (search engine optimization) and social media marketing. He has a special understanding of the challenges facing independent filmmakers and the digital options available to them. His guide reveals how quickly and inexpensively filmmakers can build websites using WordPress software. It’s a free and open-source CMS (content management system) with countless themes and plugins to choose from, many of which are free or very affordably priced. Matt’s guide walks you through each step required to launch a WordPress site with his irrepressible humor.It complements the brilliant Bulletins (see “Your Website Sucks” and “Does Your Website Still Suck?”)written by James Franklin and Kieran Masterson, which are also invaluable. James and Kieran began their Bulletins by emphasizing “you need a website from day one.”This Bulletin includes Matt’s analysis of the value of having a site that can be customized to your film and your goals. The Bulletin then links to Matt’s step-by-step guide on my website, where each step is detailed and illustrated. There is also a useful “WordPress Creation Companion” that you can download to help you organize the information needed to set up your site.- Peter Broderick

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Here's How to Create a Website in 1 Hour for $9.88by Matt MyersNo matter what stage of filmmaking you are in, you need a quality website to market your film (polite nudge here to start this as early as possible). You need a weapon to get people to pay attention, to talk about your work, and to see your world the way you see it. It can seem harder work than the making of your film. You spent all this time and energy making your vision and your unique piece, so why stuff it into such staid and homogenous formats and look like every other independent film’s site?To save time, that's why. And while they keep making more time each day, it seems like there's less and less of it for you, so turnkey options, like Squarespace and Wix, can make a lot of sense. For a catering business. Or a dentist. Or a church. You will have a really expensive piece of art to bring into the world. You don't want it to look like everything else. Like James Franklin said, "you can spot a Squarespace site from across the room." And so many film sites look like every other site, I guess because filmmakers feel pressed for time and the cost looks right at $15-$20/month. But don't be fooled. This doesn't save you time and sure as I'm writing this sentence it won't save you money.I don't know where you are in the filmmaking process, but I'd like to make you aware of how easy it is to install WordPress yourself in one-click, set up your own hosting site, and create your own unique site in about an hour for $9.88. You can decide for yourself if this is right for you, but you will at least have the option of making your marketing look like your film's aesthetic and rep your vision in your unique way.First, you need a domain name, such as yourfilmname.com. If you don’t have one already, just go to Godaddy. You need to buy a domain name no matter if you use WordPress or Wix or Squarespace or hire a developer to build a custom site, so this is requisite for entry and not included in that sweet $9.88 you are looking to pay and no more.Second, we need to get some tedium out of the way. Has to be done. Here are a few definitions and horrible metaphors to help you. Pay attention, as there will be a test later.Registrar: This is the company where you bought your domain and is holding your domain, such as Godaddy. There are lots of them. Think of this like your house. You own it.Host or hosting account: This is a company that will connect your domain/website to the internet. Think of it like cable. You are renting this package. Nameservers: This is the bridge between the registrar and the host. Basically, this is the cable box you install in your house to communicate between your house and the cable company so you can Netflix and chill. There are two nameservers for each hosting account, they will be something like:dns1.namecheaphosting.comdns2.namecheaphosting.comOkay. Get Ready.This next stuff is a step-by-step guide for you to buy/rent a cheap hosting account, update your nameservers, install Wordpress, and push your site live. It is tedious. You are going to hate it, but it will be over soon, and I promise it is not harder than making a film.